HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Area Office in Harrisburg has investigated 21 workplace fatalities since October 2021.
Of the 21 investigations, five were COVID-19-related deaths with one being a care home employee. Two of the deaths were electrocutions, one in Spring Mills this month and one in Bellefonte last October.
Three employees died from fall-related injuries, including a Carlisle Amazon employee who fell 26 feet during a forklift collapse. Eight of the cases involved an employee being crushed, struck, or run over by an object, including the collapse of a chicken barn in Gettysburg on August 1.
Twelve of the case investigations remain open at this time and thirteen of the investigations began in 2022.
The Department of Labor says “legal coverage and personal health notwithstanding, most of these fatalities were preventable.”
According to OSHA’s Harrisburg Office, there have been nearly 30% more workplace fatalities in Southcentral Pennsylvania compared to last fiscal year.
OSHA is reminding employees to “fulfill their legal responsibility to maintain a workplace, both at facilities and remote locations, free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.”